(CBS NEWS) – The CBS sitcom made its first and only pilgrimage to Comic-Con over the weekend, bringing cast members Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan, as well as co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and director Pamela Fryman.

After screening a video (below) showing Ted’s adult children (Lyndsy Fonseca and David Henrie) begging narrator Bob Saget to wrap up the story and tell them who their mother is already, Bays addressed the format for the show’s ninth and final season.

“Everyone is heading off to this wedding, and we sort of have this new framework,” he said. “We want to stress the word ‘framework,’ because we don’t want people to think there [will be] four hours of flower arranging. We’re always going to be flashing back and flashing forward. Decades will span over the course of this weekend.”